We’re posting a series of vignettes to celebrate Salesforce’s 20th birthday. Follow our digital scrapbook to get a behind the scenes glimpse of our history.

You can’t shut down innovation. That’s why even a surprise cancellation of CEO Marc Benioff’s keynote at Oracle OpenWorld 2011 couldn’t silence the message Salesforce had for the world: it was the end of software, cloud computing could extend enterprise applications to every company.

News of the cancellation barely registered before the team made a critical decision — customers wouldn’t get left behind.

The keynote team had to hustle. OpenWorld meant everything was booked, but the team found a new venue. Next, invitations, production, audio/visual, and logistics were all redone — in under 24 hours.

Overnight, a planned protest with signs and employee demonstrators took shape. By morning on October 5, the streets around Moscone Center were brimming with action.